Preview – Football – Wounded Bayern wary of season restart against Leipzig

BERLIN (Reuters) – With Julian Nagelsmann struggling with injury, Bayern Munich face RB Leipzig ahead of the Bundesliga restart on Friday.

The Bayern manager will miss captain and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer with a broken leg, while defender Lucas Hernández will miss the rest of the season after suffering a knee ligament injury during the World Cup.

Fellow defender Nouser Mazrawi has also suffered heart complications from COVID-19 and has been suspended for several weeks.

Forward Sadio Mane has just recovered from an injury that ruled him out of the tournament in Qatar and is not fit for Saturday.

Bayern, who face Paris Saint-Germain in next month’s Champions League, lead the Bundesliga with 34 points, four ahead of second-placed Freiburg and six ahead of third-placed Leipzig.

However, Leipzig have been unbeaten in the league since mid-September.

“The nine points[against Leipzig]are a nice cushion if we win the game,” said Nagelsmann. “If you lose, it’s tighter and you put more pressure on it than if you win.”

Nagelsmann also knows that a strong start to the league will prepare him for a big European game in February against 2020 winners, German champions PSG, who have failed to reach the quarter-finals in the past two seasons. I’m here.

“It’s clear that we have a big challenge[against PSG]and how we do it will affect our performance,” Nagelsmann told reporters.

“If we do well in the Bundesliga, we will be fully prepared for PSG. It’s a balanced match and the form of the day is decisive. We can get this form on the way to the league and the German Cup” agreed. increase. “

Despite Dutch defender Daily Blind being brought in to close the gap at the back, there is still a great deal of uncertainty over the goalkeeper’s position.

Sven Ulreich is set to start against Leipzig, but Bayern are desperately looking for a replacement for Neuer.

Fellow Champions League club Borussia Dortmund are sixth with 25 points and play Augsburg on Sunday, while second-placed Freiburg face VfL Wolfsburg on Saturday.

Reporting by Karolos Grohmann Editing by Toby Davis

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